emergency contraception
The emergency contraception will be sold without a prescription or age restriction
06.08.09 - 19:19 -
PILL. the government hopes that there will be fewer abortions.
The morning-after pill will go on sale in pharmacies in Spain in September, the Ministry for Health has confirmed. The emergency contraception was initially expected to go on sale in August but the health authorities have been working with various scientific organisations to establish the guidelines for selling the pill without a prescription. The ministry says that pharmacists will be advised on what information to provide to users.
It was announced in May that the pill would go on sale without the need for a prescription and without age restrictions in pharmacies throughout the country. Up until now it has only ever been dispensed by doctors.
The PP and Catalan conservative party CiU had opposed the Socialists’ proposal and were particularly against the idea of unrestricted sale of the pill. Critics feared that prescription-free sale would result in an increase in the number of women using the pill as a method of ordinary contraception, however, the government considers that allowing the sale of the pill will result in a decrease in the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions.
